Undeterred by his apparent inability to get anything through so far today, Mats Gavatin raised to 3,200 from the hijack and, big surprise, got a call from Howard Lederer on the button. Over to Dario Alioto in the big blind, who reraised to 13,300, obviously. Gavatin sighed. He eyed up Alioto's stack, which comprised of only 7,500 chips behind, indicating that he meant business. He then went all in. Lederer swiftly got out of their way, Alioto agreed the obvious call, and they were on their backs.
Alioto: for double-suited aces
Gavatin: for an interesting sort of nothing with a lot of straight potential and the like
Board:
It looked as though what may have been a desperate sort of move born of frustration had paid off for Gavatin -- he made two pair to knock out Alioto. Gavatin is back up to 60,000, and with the elimination of Alioto, we are now on the bubble.
Jared Bleznick has just been eliminated from the tournament by Men "The Master" Nguyen.
(Hold'em)
Bleznick opened with a raise to 5,600 from the button. Nguyen made the call from the big blind, saying, "Good luck, man."
The flop came and Nguyen checked to Bleznick, who attempted to bet the pot, but was quickly corrected by both the dealer and Nguyen:
"You're all in, sir," said the dealer.
"You don't have enough to bet the pot," Nguyen added.
The total bet was 5,700 and Nguyen made the call, saying, "You have the best hand for sure."
Such was not the case.
Bleznick tabled and Nguyen had him dominated with the . The turn and river filled out giving both players heart flushes, but Nguyen's was of the nut variety.
After the hand, Nguyen stacked up right around 120,000 in chips.
With Mats Gavatin raising to 3,300 from the cut-off, Howard Lederer made the call in the small blind and the two players saw a flop. Both players checked, only for Lederer to lead out for 4,000 on the turn. Gavatin called. On the river, The Professor fired again, this time to the tune of 15,000. Gavatin didn't look pleased, and after rubbing his forehead and shaking his head, made the reluctant fold.
More woe for Mats Gavatin, who can't seem to win a hand today.
Most recently, he failed to even get a simple button-raise through -- he made it 4,100, but Karelas Konstantinos in the small blind moved all in and Gavatin was forced to fold.
Four players had somehow made it to the turn of the board when Tristan Clémençon bet out 3,500 from the small blind position. Big blind Ian Frazer and Howard Lederer in the hijack both passed, but Allie Prescott called from the button and they went heads up to the river.
Clémençon now checked, and Prescott bet 9,500. Clémençon made a face and a little exhaley puff noise, and asked the dealer to spread the pot. He called, but mucked when Prescott turned over for the straight.
A quick trundle upstairs not only worked the calves, but also unveiled an appearance from Phil Hellmuth who was busy taking on Paul Zimbler amid his world record heads-up attempt. Jesse May was also on standby, asking questions on behalf on The Poker Show.
"Do you play many long sessions?" inquired May. "You know what," replied Hellmuth. "In six years I only had one all-nighter. I realised that if I was going to win everything in 10 years time, I'd better start getting some sleep."
Soon after, Hellmuth found himself involved in a hand, leading out with pocket threes on the river of a lack-lustre board. Zimbler took one peak at his cards and min-raised. "I call," announced Hellmuth, and his threes were good! "Will you look at that. Not only did I know I could bet my threes, but I called the raise too."
As a footnote, did you know that the first cardroom Hellmuth ever played in was the Dunes, where he sat down next to TV's Telly Savalas? See, we're a fountain of trivial knowledge here at PokerNews.